Why Romney can't move ahead of Obama
FIRST READ - Our latest NBC/WSJ poll shows President Obama leading Mitt Romney by four points among registered voters, 48%-44 percent...
*** It also complicates their map to win back the Senate: And if Republicans don’t win Missouri’s Senate contest, it essentially means they have to run the table on the remaining toss-up Senate races to win back the majority (if Obama wins re-election and if Angus King wins in Maine and caucuses with the Dems). The GOP would have to sweep Nebraska, North Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin, and one of Florida or Virginia. And if Elizabeth Warren wins in Massachusetts — which is a 50%-50% prospect — then the GOP would have to win BOTH of Florida and Virginia.
*** On those $716 billion in Medicare cuts: Turning to the fight over Medicare, this is a rough New York Times headline for the Romney campaign: “Patients Would Pay More if Romney Restores Medicare Savings, Analysts Say.” From the story: “While Republicans have raised legitimate questions about the long-term feasibility of the reimbursement cuts, analysts say, to restore them in the short term would immediately add hundreds of dollars a year to out-of-pocket Medicare expenses for beneficiaries. That would violate Mr. Romney’s vow that neither current beneficiaries nor Americans within 10 years of eligibility would be affected by his proposal to shift Medicare to a voucherlike system in which recipients are given a lump sum to buy coverage from competing insurers. For those reasons, Henry J. Aaron, an economist and a longtime health policy analyst at the Brookings Institution and the Institute of Medicine, called Mr. Romney’s vow to repeal the savings ‘both puzzling and bogus at the same time.’”
*** On the trail: Obama holds a campaign event in Las Vegas at 12:40 pm ET, and his campaign releases a TV ad (which will air tomorrow in Ohio and Virginia) hitting Romney and Ryan on education… Romney holds a rally in Bettendorf, IA at 1:35 pm ET, and his campaign has a new TV ad once again invoking those $716 billion in Medicare cuts… Joe Biden stumps in Michigan… And Paul Ryan holds a rally in Raleigh, NC.
